Subject: Acrobatic slug coitus
Location: Tigard, OR
August 28, 2014 11:00 pm
A friend of mine sent these photos to me asking for my explanation of what the heck was going on here. Pasted below is my reply. Just thought you’d enjoy the pictures, post as you like, no credits necessary. I live in the Portland, OR metro area, and these pictures were taken 8/28/2014, in case you wanted to know.
“Yes indeed, this is slug sex. Perhaps the air was just right, or you happened to be playing some Rick James just a little too loud. It looks just barely post-coital, so perhaps this scene is more accurately referred to as “slug afterglow”. Either way, those white misshapen things are the slugs genitals. Slugs have both a penis and a vagina (lucky bastards), and it looks as if the one in the foreground is hastily retracting its junk. Perhaps in order to avoid the traditional slug version of pillow talk, which involves the chewing off and consuming of each others’ penises. They grow back, but still, kinda intimate for a one-night stand, don’t you think?”
Signature: Jason

Subject: Slug eggs
Location: Houston, TX
May 31, 2014 5:57 pm
Found this under a pot planter on a warm day 5-31-14 in Houston/Galveston, TX area. It appears to be a slug with its eggs. However, it doesn’t seem like a typical slug. The dorsal side is more rough while the underside is more slimy. As we messed with it, it snugged up with the eggs more. When we left it alone for a minute, the eyes came out and it began moving quite a bit.
Signature: W. Parks

Leatherleaf Slug with clutch of eggs

Dear W. Parks,
Thanks for commenting on an Unknown Eggs posting from our archives and then sending your own documentation. The creature in your image does appear to be sluglike, but we are not certain of its identity. The clutch of eggs looks identical to that from our archives, and it is also from Texas. We are going to feature your submission as our Bug of the Month for June 2014 even though we cannot identify it at this time. We will attempt to research this matter.

Leatherleaf Slug with clutch of eggs

We did a search for “Slug Eggs” and quickly found a matching image (figure 2) on the University of Florida Featured Creatures page and it is identified as the egg cluster of Leidyula floridana, the Florida Leatherleaf Slug. Further down the page (figures 16 and 17) the Florida Leatherleaf Slug is pictured, and it is described as being: “native to the Caribbean (Cuba to Jamaica) and southern Florida. Formerly found only in southern and central Florida, it has since has spread to northernmost Florida, and also is found in Louisiana, Texas, and northeastern Mexico, suggesting either that the species is more widespread than previous records indicated or that it is being relocated via commerce.”

Subject: Strange Tentacled Mountain Snail
Location: Mulu National Park, Borneo
May 18, 2014 7:16 am
On my recent climb to the Pinnacles limestone formation at the Mulu National Park, I encountered this strange grey and red snail displaying two long grey tentacles emerging from its back at an elevation of about 1000 metres above sea level. I have not seen this snail elsewhere and I see it turn up again and again in pictures from blogs of other folks who have climbed the Pinnacles – but till date, no one was able to give a positive ID.
Signature: Yours sincerely, Kok Sen Wai

Terrestrial Snail

Dear Kok Sen Wai,
We can’t believe we are posting two requests for very unusual Terrestrial Snails in the same day. The markings on the shell of your Snail are very similar to this example of Naninia obiana from Indonesia that is posted to FlickR. We did find a matching example on FlickR that is unidentified and Eric Hunt who posted the image made this observation: “The snail had two structures that it rapidly wiped over the shell like it was cleaning it.” There is also an image on Laura Loves It’s Blog and another example on FlickR. We will try contacting Susan Hewitt who frequently assists in the identification of Molluscs on our site to see if she has any ideas.

Subject: Spikey Snail
Location: Suzhou, China
May 17, 2014 4:32 pm
This snail found on a walk on Da Yang Mountain, Suzhou, China early in the morning.
I found it interesting because of the spikes clearly seen on the shell. The shell is around 3cm diameter. Hope you can provide some more information !!
Signature: Fraser

Terrestrial Snail

Hi Fraser,
We haven’t been able to locate any information on this spiny, terrestrial Snail, but perhaps Susan Hewitt, who frequently comments on our mollusc postings, will write in with some information.

Subject: slug
Location: South Africa
March 3, 2014 5:14 am
Hello.
I recently found this guy cruising around the backyard just before sunrise. I estimate the size to be 8cm long and about 4cm thick. I have never seen slugs like this before. Do you have any idea what type of slug this is?
Signature: Em

Leather Leaf Slug

Dear Em,Slugs belong to the phyllum Mollusca and most members of the class are univalves and bivalves that live in the water, including snails, clams, oysters and mussels. Octopi and squid are also molluscs. Slugs are classified in the class Gastropoda. The PHotographs of South Africa blog has some images that look similar to your slug, but lacking the stripe down the center of the body. We are going to try to contact Susan Hewitt to see if she can provide any information.

Thank you very much for the help. I hope she knows and I get to see more – very pretty!
Em

Susan Hewitt responds: Leather Leaf SlugHi Daniel and Em. This rather handsome, large land slug is a “leather leaf” slug in the family Veronicellidae — the mantle completely covers the body. However I don’t know enough to be able to tell you which genus or species it is. It may possibly be an introduced species in your area.

Thanks so much Susan! I do hope to see more around, very unusual slug. Regards.
Em

Subject: Florida land snails
Location: Florida
January 25, 2014 2:35 pm
My sister was given two land snails to care for. She said that they were collected in Florida. That’s all I know. I want to be sure these are not pest species, and secondly, if she decides to care for them I need to know what they might eat. Thanks.
Signature: Bruce

Snail From Florida

Hi Bruce,
We can post this request this morning, but we haven’t the time to research it right now, but we will try to identify your Snails later. We have to confess that we don’t know much about Molluscs, but we do have a reader, Susan J. Hewitt, who frequently identifies Snails for us. Perhaps she will read the posting and provide a comment.